Characterization of new sources of fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance and introgress it in to Saskatchewan elite wheat cultivars

小麦（Triticum aestivum L.）是加拿大的一种主要作物，种植面积超过1000万公顷，过去三年的总产量为2750万至2920万吨（Anonymous 2016）。2013年，加拿大是全球第六大小麦生产国和第三大小麦出口国（2000万吨，价值65亿美元）。小麦是加拿大农业经济和粮食生产的主要贡献者。赤霉病（Fusarium head blight， FHB）是小麦和其他谷物的主要病害之一。在过去的十年里，在加拿大西部，食品和卫生局逐渐从东向西发展。在萨斯喀彻温省，2014年收获的受镰刀菌感染的谷物是2013年收获的两倍或更多。镰刀菌感染不仅破坏种子发育，降低产量，而且由于真菌毒素污染谷物，使谷物不适合人类食用。从生产、贸易、食品、饲料、加工、国内和国际贸易到小麦价值链的各个阶段，食品毒素的破坏性影响持续存在。因此，多年来在加拿大不断增加的FHB进展是粮食生产商、科学家和政府非常关注的问题。改进作物管理措施和增强寄主抗性是控制小麦FHB感染的两个主要策略。拟议项目的重点是开发抗FHB的小麦种质，以对抗FHB感染。一种新的基于实验室的方法已经开发出来，以创建遗传变异和筛选小麦的FHB抗性基因型。该方法已用于鉴定耐FHB小麦品系和表征赋予FHB抗性的基因。小麦抗赤霉病基因的DNA标记已被开发出来。这些抗赤霉病品系将与加拿大优良小麦品种杂交，培育出适应加拿大条件的抗赤霉病小麦品种。DNA标记将被用于标记辅助选择方法，以加快FHB品种的开发。该项目的成功完成将产生能够以环境友好的方式对抗FHB感染的FHB小麦品种。

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major crop in Canada grown over 10 million hectares with a total production of 27.5 to 29.2 million tonnes during the last three years (Anonymous 2016). Globally Canada is the sixth major producer and third major exporter (20 million tons worth $6.5 billion) of wheat during 2013. Wheat is a major contributor to Canadian agricultural economy and food production. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the major diseases of wheat and other cereals. In Western Canada over the last decade, FHB has been gradually progressing from east to west. In Saskatchewan, Fusarium spp. infected grains harvested during 2014 were two times or more than those in 2013. Fusarium infection not only disrupts seed development and lowers yield but also makes the grain unfit for human consumption by contaminating grains with fungal toxins. The devastating effects of FHB persists through every stage of the wheat value chain from production, trade, food, feed, processing, domestic and international trade. Therefore, increasing FHB progression over the years in Canada is a matter of great concern to grain producers, scientists and government. Improving crop management practices, and strengthening host resistance, are the two major strategies to control wheat FHB infection. The proposed project focuses on developing FHB resistant wheat germplasm to combat FHB infection. A novel laboratory based method has been developed to create genetic variation and screen wheat genotypes for FHB resistance. The method has been used to identify FHB resistant wheat lines and characterize genes conferring the FHB resistance. DNA markers have been developed for FHB resistant genes in wheat. The FHB resistant lines will be crossed with elite Canadian wheat cultivars to develop FHB resistant wheat cultivars adapted to Canadian conditions. DNA markers will be used in a marker assisted selection approach to develop FHB cultivars in an accelerated time schedule. Successful completion of this project will result in FHB wheat cultivars that can combat FHB infection in an environmentally friendly manner.